Phillies Fall to Cubs, 5-2

The big news of the night was the Chase Utley extension. He didn’t start the game, but nearly finished it in the seventh when he, as the go-ahead run–was thrown out at home after a collision with Dioner Navarro. The Phillies never got that go-ahead run in, and a three run home run in the top of the ninth by Donnie Murphy propelled the Cubs over the Phillies, 5-2. The good news is that Domonic Brown hit his 25th home run of the season.

GOOD OUTING FOR HAMELS

Cole Hamels had a solid outing. He gave up two runs over seven innings, while scattering six hits and striking out three. He didn’t get a decision, but this was definitely a good start for him. He lowered his ERA to 3.81 (down from 3.87). He threw 61 strikes to 21 balls.

His opponent, Travis Wood, (you might remember him for almost throwing a perfect game at Citizens Bank Park) had an equally good start. He threw 6.1 innings, gave up two runs, struck out seven and walked one.

BULLPEN BLOWS IT

The Phils got Hamels off the hook for the loss with an RBI single by Utley, but with the game tied in the ninth inning, Justin De Fratus erased all hopes for a win by giving up a monster three run home run. He was throwing well before leaving one down the middle. Luis Garcia started the mess by not being able to find the strike zone, with three walks in the inning. He also received the loss.

UP NEXT:

The Phillies and Cubs play one more tomorrow afternoon at 1:05, with former Notre Dame wide receiver Jeff Samardzija taking on Ethan Martin.

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14 Comments

Double Trouble Del

August 7, 2013 at 10:33 pm

DeFratus does not have the level of concentration necessary to pitch in the majors and the same goes for Diekman. These pitchers are not young so please don’t tell us that they need to learn at this level.

Figure on 2 more years of Rollins. His option vests at $11M if he gets 1100 plate appearances between 2013-2014 or 600 PA’s in 2014. I looked, and he has 470 PA’s after tonight’s game with 50 games remaining. So barring an injury, the option should vest.

I don’t mind, lose it up this year and secure a top ten pick… I’d call up a younger guy, Gillies or Hernandez, to play center field and see what they can do.. it won’t hurt us to try it out, might even help us lose more…

So does Aumont, so did Ramierez etc. ad nauseam. They cannot throw strikes on a consistent basis. They cannot hit their spots. They have no movement on their pitches. In other words they are now and forever shall be AAAA pitchers. Where are the Kimbrels? the Storens? Oh I forgot this is the Philles’ minor league system or Kimbrel is DeFratus our Storen is Diekman.

I chalk this loss up to Charlie over-managing again. Why take out Hamels after 7? Pitch count was low 80’s or so. You can argue that he needed the runner to score, but then you’re assuming Hamels can’t do it. But what kills me more is having a slow hook on Garcia. It was damn clear after 2 batters that he couldn’t find the strike zone. Why not pull him then? Even still, he nearly got out of it thanks to Kratz. The team can overcome a lot of things, but bad managing is one of the hardest things to beat.

A few names that stick out to me on the 2014 free agents list for outfielders…

Carlos Beltran, Nelson Cruz, Mike Morse, Hunter pence… corner outfield options,I figure that Brown and revere are definites next year,I doubt we will stick with ruf out there,I see them using him as more of a 4th outfielder and right hand platoon with Howard at first…